How to get data between the start time and end time?

Shell Programming and Scripting
1

Hi,

Can anyone help me how can I get the line that between the start time and end time.

file1.txt
15/03/2009 20:45:03 Request: - Data of this line
15/03/2009 20:45:12 Response: - Data of this line
15/03/2009 22:10:40 Request: - Data of this line
15/03/2009 22:10:42 Response: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 02:05:03 Request: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 02:05:12 Response: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 08:59:57 Request: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 09:00:01 Response: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 10:45:23 Request: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 10:45:32 Response: - Data of this line

I like the users to put date and time of starting time and end time like this
$ ReportData.sh 15/03/2009 21:00:00 16/03/2009 09:00:00 and get the result. I also want Response eventhough it is over 9 o'clock since Request was before 9.
Output:
15/03/2009 22:10:40 Request: - Data of this line
15/03/2009 22:10:42 Response: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 02:05:03 Request: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 02:05:12 Response: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 08:59:57 Request: - Data of this line
16/03/2009 09:00:01 Response: - Data of this line

I don't know which tool to use to compare the date and time.
Thank you in advance for any comments.

2

A solution with awk, btw the last line of your output is not within the given range.

awk -v start="15/03/2009 21:00:00" -v end="16/03/2009 09:00:00" '
BEGIN {
  split(start,a,"[ |:|/]")
  s=a[3]a[2]a[1]a[4]a[5]a[6]
  split(end,a,"[ |:|/]")
  e=a[3]a[2]a[1]a[4]a[5]a[6]
}
{
  split($0,a,"[ |:|/]")
  t=a[3]a[2]a[1]a[4]a[5]a[6]
}
t >= s && t <= e
' file

Regards